I have long enjoyed reading books by Gary Paul Nabhan. A nature writer, farming activist, and promoter of environmental and cultural diversity, Nabhan has lived on his small farm in Patagonia, Arizona, and worked and studied throughout the Sonora desert for more than 30 years. He has researched the plants and farming techniques of indigenous…
Category: Book Reviews
Water
Water. Our planet’s surface is covered about 70% by this life essential liquid. That is approximately 331 million cubic miles of water. However, all but 3% contains salt. Three-quarters of this 3% of freshwater is in the form of ice. Half of the remaining ¼ of freshwater is located 2,500+ feet below the surface and…
The Wild Wisdom of Weeds: 13 Essential Plants for Human Survival
Eat your weeds or there’ll be no dessert!At a lecture I once attended during an organic farming conference a speaker asserted that the best form of food security would come from learning to eat grass. “You would always have enough to share and next to no one would try to take it away from you.”…
The Plant Hunters: Two Hundred Years of Adventure and Discovery Around the World
There are so many wonderful plants that gardeners enjoy and admire at home as well as in famous gardens and parks. But how many of us know the origins of these plants or how they came to be here? Most of them, if not indigenous to our location, were brought here by plant collectors or…
Gaia’s Garden: A Guide to Home-Scale Permaculture
Perhaps one of the most recognizable heralds of spring are narcissus, (the genus that includes daffodils, jonquils, and paperwhites). The flowers of these geophytes (bulbs) play a larger role in my garden than just their display of bright cheery blooms. Because all narcissus bulbs are poisonous to just about everything including gophers, I have incorporated…
Wild Fermentation; the Flavor, Nutrition, and Craft of Live Culture Foods
The first batch of sour pickles are in the crock and will be ready in just about a day!If you haven’t read this book yet then I highly recommend you do so!So many recipes beyond pickles for vegetable krauts & kimchis, miso & tempeh, beers, wines, & meads, yogurt & cheese, sourdough bread, and more!Simple…
Medicinal Plants of the Pacific West” by Michael Moore
As a nurseryman and grower specializing in edible, ceremonial and medicinal plants for gardens and landscapes here on the central coast of California as well as an amateur herbalist, I am always looking for more information on medicinal plants native to this area. “Medicinal Plants of the Pacific West” by Michael Moore contains a wealth…
One Straw Revolution
In many years of gardening, as well as writing about and teaching classes on horticulture, I’ve always attempted to incorporate self sufficiency and permaculture techniques.I am deeply indebted to the knowledge and skill of those who have come before me, especially one of the earliest and most revolutionary proponents of self-sufficient, natural and permaculture farming practices,…
Gardening at the Dragon’s Gate: At Work in the Wild and Cultivated World
Wendy Johnson is a Zen Buddhist meditation teacher and pioneer, leader and head gardener for San Francisco’s Green Gulch Farm Center (located in Marin County, northern California), gardens that grew out of fields that “curve like an enormous green dragon between the hills and the ocean”. In this delightful book she shares her experiences and…
Central Coast Rose Manual; Creating a Personal Rose Garden by Joseph Truskot
Whether you have only a few roses, a full on rose garden, or just the desire to create one as a part of your personal garden paradise, then Joseph Truskot’s Central Coast Rose Manual is the must have resource book for you. Truskot is a Master Rosarian of the Monterey Bay Rose Society with many…